Behind the scenes - the 'Who?' and the 'Why?' of Two Red Apples.
My name is Jacinda Thompson and I am a qualified Secondary School teacher with teaching experience from Years 7 - 13 in Australia and New Zealand. I have a Science degree from the University of Canterbury and a diploma in Secondary teaching from the Christchurch College of Education. I also ran my own Homework and Tutoring Centre named Bridge House from 2000 - 2005. My husband Aaron and I have three children spanning across the education sector: Archie is pre-school age, Finn is at primary school and Tahlia starts college next year. I am a member of the Board of Trustees at my children's primary school in Blenheim.
I have set this site up because I am passionate about education - get it right and it will set children up for life. When teaching in the classroom I find it frustrating not to have the time or resources to enable some children to make the progress they could with just a little one to one help. In my opinion it is fairly rare that teacher incompetency is responsible for a student not reaching their potential. I have met many brilliant teachers who go well beyond the call of duty in their jobs but they are up against massive demands on their time. The typical secondary school teacher sees over 100 different students each day! If you are not happy with the progress your child is making and you really want to see improvement you will greatly up the odds of success if you get involved in their teaching and learning. You can pay for expensive tutors but in my experience this is only beneficial if they work one to one, have frequent sessions and don't simply sit your child in front of a computer using generic educational software that doesn't closely match what they are learning in the classroom. Alternatively, you can take a little time to do it yourself - no-one knows your child as well as you and no-one else can offer the frequent small bites of help that really make a difference. It's not as hard as you might think!
The solution as I see it is to help parents work in partnership with schools. In my experience, at a pre-school level this is done very well and the communication both ways is great. However, as children get older, parents typically become less involved. I acknowledge that the end goal is for our kids to become independent but believe that there needs to be more of a progression whereby parents gradually take less responsibility, working in partnership with their children until they have the skills and maturity to take full responsibility for their own learning - often not until near the end of their secondary education. In fact even adults get better study results when they have a support person. So where on earth is a well meaning parent who hasn't opened a textbook for twenty years supposed to start? Here!
This site is a response to a gap I perceived in information for parents. Folk are busy and don't always get in to ask teachers who are also busy and not always easy to see frequently. There appears to be a plethora of online information relating to the development of babies and toddlers but very little when it comes to older children. I hope that "Two Red Apples" can go some way towards filling that gap.
I have set this site up because I am passionate about education - get it right and it will set children up for life. When teaching in the classroom I find it frustrating not to have the time or resources to enable some children to make the progress they could with just a little one to one help. In my opinion it is fairly rare that teacher incompetency is responsible for a student not reaching their potential. I have met many brilliant teachers who go well beyond the call of duty in their jobs but they are up against massive demands on their time. The typical secondary school teacher sees over 100 different students each day! If you are not happy with the progress your child is making and you really want to see improvement you will greatly up the odds of success if you get involved in their teaching and learning. You can pay for expensive tutors but in my experience this is only beneficial if they work one to one, have frequent sessions and don't simply sit your child in front of a computer using generic educational software that doesn't closely match what they are learning in the classroom. Alternatively, you can take a little time to do it yourself - no-one knows your child as well as you and no-one else can offer the frequent small bites of help that really make a difference. It's not as hard as you might think!
The solution as I see it is to help parents work in partnership with schools. In my experience, at a pre-school level this is done very well and the communication both ways is great. However, as children get older, parents typically become less involved. I acknowledge that the end goal is for our kids to become independent but believe that there needs to be more of a progression whereby parents gradually take less responsibility, working in partnership with their children until they have the skills and maturity to take full responsibility for their own learning - often not until near the end of their secondary education. In fact even adults get better study results when they have a support person. So where on earth is a well meaning parent who hasn't opened a textbook for twenty years supposed to start? Here!
This site is a response to a gap I perceived in information for parents. Folk are busy and don't always get in to ask teachers who are also busy and not always easy to see frequently. There appears to be a plethora of online information relating to the development of babies and toddlers but very little when it comes to older children. I hope that "Two Red Apples" can go some way towards filling that gap.
